City needs more residents who care

If all Youngstown residents were as concerned and active as the writer of an April 23 letter, our job of improving neighborhoods would be much easier.

I would like to address her concerns regarding McGuffey Plaza. The Property Code Enforcement Office has inspected the property. Although there are violations, the property does not meet the criteria to order the structure be demolished. It is not structurally unsound. In order to issue an order for an owner to demolish a structure, certain guidelines must be met. In this case the property owner has been notified that violations exist and is being given an opportunity to bring the property into compliance. The city takes the issue of blight very seriously. However, we must apply the laws.

Finally, regarding her desire to see it replaced with a strip plaza, we too would love to see more commercial development of the city of Youngstown. That is why we have focused so much of our efforts on code enforcement and safety issues. We are setting the table for business development. We all want the same thing; a strong city that includes vibrant commercial activity. We know that if we stay on track and continue to remove blight, our city will continue to see more commerce. In fact, the Cafaro Company was working to bring a Bottom Dollar to the plaza, but, after reviewing the market figures, Bottom Dollar chose not to develop in that spot.

Although the city has made many improvements to the system of code enforcement over the last 16 months, we know that there is still much work to do.

Maureen O’Neil, Youngstown

The writer is the city’s neighborhood improvement coordinator.

Time to pull in the ‘welcome’ mat

In these days of trial and tribulation, I sincerely believe that the United States should tighten its existing immigration policies.

The country cannot afford its liberal policies that “all people are welcome” unfortunately. This policy should be discontinued.